Squids

LQ: 9.2

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Brain grade: 8.8
Fun score: 9.5

Game Type: , ESRB Rating: N/A Platform/Console: , , , LWK Recommended Age: 7+ Thinking Skills Used: ,

iTunes / Google Play

Squids is a strategy game where players controls a team of squids that must fight back against a black ooze to save their underwater kingdom. Each level plays out in rounds, with the player using the touch screen to pull back on the tenticles of squids, releasing to fling them about the level. This allows the player to strike enemies and deal damage, as well as pick up items and strategically maneuver around enemies. The player can attach squids to anchors to keep them safe, barring enemies from knocking them off edges or into hazards like spikey sea sponges. Once each squid has used up its stamina gauge, the enemy team gets a turn to attack. Due to the child-friendly, inoffensive nature of the game, as well as the simple controls, Squids is recommended to players ages 7 and up.

 


This Game IS Good For Kids who need help with:

Planning

Developing a systematic approach for setting and achieving goals.

Since Squids is a turn-based strategy game, making carefully planned out maneuvers is very important, as the player has only a set amount of moves to make each turn. Each squid has a stamina bar that depletes as it moves, and once all squids use up their stamina, the enemy gets to attack. This requires the player to plan the trajectory and power of each squid's movement in order to successfully land attacks, also demanding that the player think ahead and predict the likely tactics of the enemy. For instance, falling of an edge results in a KO, so if a squid runs out of stamina near a ledge, the enemy will likely knock that squid off during the next turn.

Also, certain squids have special abilities, like healing powers, wide area attacks or long-range projectile attacks. Squids can also be equipped with a variety of items to change their attack and defense, and the player gets to choose which squids to send into a level. Therefore it is important to decide how each squid will be used in the round before beginning to fling the team around. The touch screen can also be used to survey the stage before acting, allowing the player to locate enemies and hazards before creating a game plan.

Flexibility

Adapting and adjusting to changing conditions and expectations.

In some stages, certain conditions must be met, like defeating all the enemies, reaching an exit or simply surviving for a certain amount of rounds. Therefore, it is important to not depend on a single strategy while playing the game, as the varying requirements level to level demand different approaches. Sometimes it is best to race past enemies to reach an exit, other times it may be best to attach a squid to an anchor and avoid being bumped off a ledge.

Furthermore, the game introduces several "boss battles" against bigger, tougher enemies, each requiring a specific strategy to defeat. Level structures are quite different stage to stage as well, with hazards, cliffs, power-ups and anchors stewn about in various locations. All of these factors demand that the player adapt to the conditions of each level, changing strategies to fit the varying level structures, new enemy types and specific conditions that must be met.

 

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